World War I

On June 28, 1914, a Bosnian Serb assassinated Archduke
Franz
Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne. Within days
AustriaHungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum that made war
inevitable. Tisza initially opposed the ultimatum but
changed his
mind when Germany supported Austria-Hungary. By late
August, all
the great European powers were at war. Bands playing
military
music and patriotic demonstrators expecting a quick, easy
victory
took to Budapest's streets after the declaration of war.
However,
Hungary, was ill prepared to fight. The country's
armaments were
obsolete, and its industries were not prepared for a war
economy.
In 1915 and 1916, Hungary felt the full impact of the war.
Inflation ran rampant, wages were frozen, food shortages
developed, and the government banned export of grain even
to
Austria. Franz Joseph died in 1916, and Karl IV (1916-18)
became
Hungary's new king. Before being crowned, however, Karl
insisted
that Hungarians has expanded voting rights. Tisza resigned
in
response. By 1917 the Hungarian government was slowly
losing
domestic control in the face of mounting popular
dissatisfaction
caused by the war. Of the 3.6 million soldiers Hungary
sent to
war, 2.1 million became casualties. By late 1918,
Hungary's farms
and factories were producing only half of what they did in
1913,
and the war-weary people had abandoned hope of victory.

On October 31, 1918, smoldering unrest burst into
revolution
in Budapest, and roving soldiers assassinated Istvan
Tisza.
Pressured by the popular uprising and the refusal of
Hungarian
troops to quell disturbances, King Karl was compelled to
appoint
the "Red Count," Mihaly Karolyi, a pro-Entente liberal and
leader
of the Party of Independence, to the post of prime
minister.
Chrysanthemum-waving crowds poured into the streets
shouting
their approval. Karolyi formed a new cabinet, whose
members were
drawn from the new National Council, composed of
representatives
of the Party of Independence, the Social Democratic Party,
and a
group of bourgeoisie radicals. After suing for a separate
peace,
the new government dissolved the parliament, pronounced
Hungary
an independent republic with Karolyi as provisional
president,
and proclaimed universal suffrage and freedom of the press
and
assembly. The government launched preparations for land
reform
and promised elections, but neither goal was carried out.
On
November 13, 1918, Karl IV surrendered his powers as king
of
Hungary; however, he did not abdicate, a technicality that
made a
return to the throne possible.

The Karolyi government's measures failed to stem
popular
discontent, especially when the Entente powers began
distributing
slices of Hungary's traditional territory to Romania,
Yugoslavia,
and Czechoslovakia. The new government and its supporters
had
pinned their hopes for maintaining Hungary's territorial
integrity on abandoning Austria and Germany, securing a
separate
peace, and exploiting Karolyi's close connections in
France. The
Entente, however, chose to consider Hungary a partner in
the
defeated Dual Monarchy and dashed the Hungarians' hopes
with the
delivery of each new diplomatic note demanding surrender
of more
land. On March 19, 1919, the French head of the Entente
mission
in Budapest handed Karolyi a note delineating final
postwar
boundaries, which were unacceptable to all Hungarians.
Karolyi
resigned and turned power over to a coalition of Social
Democrats
and communists, who promised that Soviet Russia would help
Hungary restore its original borders. Although the Social
Democrats held a majority in the coalition, the communists
under
Bela Kun immediately seized control and announced the
establishment of the Hungarian Soviet Republic.

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